


A Different Approach

by Royalsciencenerd



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode: s03e13 Cassandra's Revenge, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:20:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25496731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Royalsciencenerd/pseuds/Royalsciencenerd
Summary: Varian chooses his words more wisely when talking with Cassandra. This leads to the heart-to-heart she didn't know she needed.
Relationships: Cassandra & Varian (Disney: Tangled)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 62





	A Different Approach

**Author's Note:**

> Aka Varian doesn't call Cass a villain, and it goes much better.... 
> 
> This fic was inspired by my own revenge on my upstairs neighbors who decided to throw a rager at 2 am during a global pandemic. I responded by blaring "Nothing Left to Lose" and singing as loudly as I could at 6 am when I woke up for work (don't worry, the rest of my neighbors have moved out so it's just us). And then I got to thinking, what if Varian hadn't called Cass a villain, would their conversation have gone better? And well..., here we are. 
> 
> Also, I wanted some dialogue practice. Enjoy! :)

“Cassandra, you’re angry. I get it. Believe me, I know what it’s like…. But you are making a mistake. This path you’re choosing- it’s a dangerous one. The farther you go down it, the more you get sucked into the darkness. And you know this isn’t the way to make things right, but you find ways to justify your actions, because you believe you are just taking what is rightfully yours. But going about it this way- that’s how you lose yourself. Not only yourself, but everything that once meant something to you, until there’s nothing left to lose. Is all of this, everything you think you want, worth sacrificing what you already have? Cass, trust me. I would know. This isn’t the path you want to take- you might hurt those who’ve wronged you, but in the end, the main person you’re hurting is yourself.”

“I can take care of myself, Varian! This path I’m taking may seem dark, but it leads to where I want to go. I’m not turning back now, not when I’m so close to getting everything that was supposed to mine. Everything that _she_ took from me! We may have some things in common, but unlike you, I don’t plan on backing down when Rapunzel comes for you. You might have lost your nerve after a year in prison, and be all buddy-buddy with Rapunzel again, but unlike you, I will do whatever it takes to get what’s rightfully mine. I’m going to face my destiny!”

“And what is rightfully yours, Cassandra?”

“What?”

“You keep talking about what all was stolen from you…. About doing all of this so you can face your destiny and get what’s rightfully yours…. Well what do you want, Cassandra? What’s rightfully yours?”

“Rapunzel will _pay_ for what she did to me. She stole my mother from me. She chose _her_ over me.”

“Okay, wait…. Time out. Rapunzel stole your mom?!? I know your dad is captain of the guard, but who’s your mom?”

“The captain isn’t even my real dad! I’m adopted.”

“Oh…. And so you found your mom while you were on Rapunzel’s quest.”

“I found out who she was.”

Varian looked at her expectantly.

“Ugh, fine! My mother was Gothel.”

“Oh….”

“Yeah…. ‘Oh.’ You know, I don’t even know why I’m telling you this- you’re only here because I need to use you as bait to get Rapunzel to come face me.”

“Because it’s nice to have someone who will actually listen.”

Cassandra glared at Varian, but he just shook off the intimidation tactic. “Trust me- why do you think I became friends with Andrew?”

“With who?”

“Oh right…. You weren’t there…. My bad…. Andrew’s my former cellmate. We kind of took over the kingdom together-” Varian paused at Cassandra’s skeptical look. “It was only for a couple of months. Then Rapunzel showed up, and Andrew revealed he was going to use my new compound to blow up the kingdom, so I helped Rapunzel stop him, and well, here we are…. But that’s not the point- the point is, if you did want to talk to someone who would actually listen, I’m here…. I mean, if I’m going to be here for a while- the whole ‘bait’ thing and all- we could ummmm… catch up? I guess…. Rapunzel obviously doesn’t tell me _anything_ apparently, so it’d be nice to know what’s going on, and of all people, I think I might be able to relate the most to the whole ‘Rapunzel kind of sucks’ feeling you have right now. So what do you say?”

“What happened to being friends with Rapunzel?”

“I mean I am now, but for a while there we _definitely_ weren’t, and some days it still hurts, ya know? Like there’s still cracks in our friendship, but over time we’re working to fill them in…. It’s a process. But anyways, I believe we were talking about what you wanted, not my wish list.”

“I want what’s rightfully mine!”

“You’ve mentioned that, but what does that mean?”

“Rapunzel stole _EVERYTHING_ from me. My mother, my home…. I intend to take it back.”

“So you want Gothel back?”

“What?!?”

“You say Rapunzel stole your mother- wanting her back implies you want Gothel back as your own mother.”

“So what if I do?!? She’s my mother! I didn’t even get a choice in the matter when Rapunzel stole her away from me!”

“Fair, but in her defense, I don’t think Rapunzel really had a choice either….” Cassandra glared at him. “I’m just saying…. From what little Rapunzel has told me about Gothel, she wasn’t the most nurturing parent.”

“But she’s still my mom! I never even knew. No one ever told me!”

“I get it- your dad lied about your past. I can relate. I never even knew my dad was from the Dark Kingdom until after he got out of the amber. In fact, according to Rapunzel, your group found out from Adira long before I ever knew. And it hurts, right? To be lied to. Because even though your past isn’t a happy one- it’s still yours. It’s still part of you. And even though they hid our pasts from us in order to shield us, in the end not knowing only hurt us more.”

“I’m _NOT_ hurting, Varian! I’m angry! There’s a difference.”

“It’s okay to be hurting, Cassandra, and it’s okay to not know what to do with that hurt. It’s a lot easier to avoid it, or to lean into it and let it fuel your rage at how unfair everything is. But in the end, does being angry make you feel better? Does it help heal the hurt?”

“It doesn’t matter how I feel. I’m chasing my destiny. Nothing else matters. Rapunzel may think she knows what our destinies are, but she’s wrong! I can see that clearly now.”

“Yeah, Rapunzel does have an annoying habit of always seeming to know what’s best, am I right?”

“What?”

“I mean she doesn’t mean it maliciously, but she’s always pushing people towards what she thinks their destiny is, because she thinks she knows best. And sometimes it works out, but sometimes it hurts people. But the problem is, you don’t realize that until you’re the one she’s hurt, right?”

“I already told you, I’M NOT HURTING!”

“What was your trigger?”

“My what?”

“Your trigger? The exact moment you realized Rapunzel didn’t have your best interests at heart. That you had to make the decision you thought was best for you….”

“Ummmm….”

“It can be a word, an action, anything. For me it was simple- 2 words. ‘I promise.’ We were stealing the sundrop flower, I was having doubts about it- I mean after all, I was betraying the kingdom I grew up in, the kingdom my father had always taught me to respect and defend- and I was wondering, ‘hey is this really what I want? Maybe there’s another way.’ But then Rapunzel started blabbing on and on about how ‘we’ can fix this, I just have to trust her, because Rapunzel believes she can fix everything herself, and then she told me ‘we’ would find a way to fix everything and then she said those words not once, but twice. ‘I promise.’ And, well, we both know how I feel about Rapunzel and her promises.”

“She told me to wait. ‘Just wait.’ I’m so SICK OF WAITING!!!!” With that, Cassandra sent some black rocks flying into the wall. Varian flinched, but was careful to not show fear. After all, he’d been in this exact same spot before.

“UGH! Why does she just think she can just fix everything? And then she talks down to me like she knows better than me, like I’m just being a petulant child, and she’s the all-knowing adult. It’s so condescending, and she does it all in the name of ‘friendship.’ True friends listen to each other, and know when to let the other take the lead.”

“Yeah, Rapunzel always seems to know exactly what’s best for ‘us.’ Unfortunately, her definition of ‘us’ is really just her, but I mean, who can blame her, growing up all alone in a tower.”

“That should have been my life. I should have been my mother’s only daughter. I could have been happy.”

“Are you saying you aren’t happy with your current childhood? I thought you loved your dad?”

“What? Of course I do! But the point is, it wasn’t what I was supposed to have. I was supposed to have more. I was supposed to have a mother who loved me.”

“Cassandra, I know you’re angry, but it seems you might have gotten the better end of this deal, even if you’re too hurt right now to see it. Gothel never loved anyone but herself. Why would you want to trade your father who you know for sure loves you, for someone you had no idea if they ever could? You have so much, why are you letting go of it? Just to chase after what might have been when you don’t even know that for sure? Speaking from personal experience, hold onto what you have, because you won’t know how much it means to you until it’s gone.”

“I only want what I rightfully deserve. Don’t I deserve to be able to get angry and upset?!?”

“Of course you do. You have every right to be hurt by what happened, and to be upset because it was hidden from you. You can even be mad at Rapunzel, and I will totally support you in that, because you have every right to be mad at her. But destroying her? Cassandra if you let your rage for what you believe Rapunzel stole from you control you, then you are being consumed by it. How are you supposed to move forward when you are so focused on the past?”

“This is my path forward!”

“No! This is _a_ path forward. Right now it’s your choice if this is the one you take. Don’t wait until you find yourself in a situation where that’s no longer a choice you get to make. Right now you can choose your own path, your own destiny, Cassandra. It can be whatever you want it to be. As long as you choose the right path now.”

“It’s too late. I’ve already betrayed Rapunzel. This is the path I must take.”

“Trust me, Cassandra. If Rapunzel can forgive me for attempting to kill most of her family and friends, she’ll forgive you for temporarily stealing the moonstone. You can still choose your own destiny. It’s not too late to choose a different path forward.”

“I’m not so sure....”

“Cassandra, the choices you make now will shape your entire future. If you choose this path that ends in darkness, you’ll go down a road I’m familiar with. It only ends in everyone getting hurt- yourself included. And then you’ll spend months, and probably the rest of your life trying to make it up to everyone, but you’ll never feel like you’ve done quite enough. I went down a dark path and was labeled as a villain, but Cassandra you don’t have to be a villain. Right now you’re just a thief who stole because they were hurt. You still have a chance to be the hero I know you as, Cassandra.”

“But what if I can’t see any path besides this one? I chose this path because I could clearly see how I could get everything I ever wanted. I could get revenge for everything that was stolen from me.”

“There’s always another path, Cass. And if not, then forge your own. This revenge that you claim to so badly want- it’s forcing you to be stuck in the past. You have to move on.”

“I can’t forgive Rapunzel! I won’t!”

“You don’t have to forgive anyone Cassandra. This isn’t about them. This is about you moving forward with a destiny of your own. Gothel’s gone, Cassandra. Leave her in the past. Leave Rapunzel in the past too if you want- that’s your choice to make. It’s time for you to chase your own destiny!”

**Author's Note:**

> There you have it! Cassandra gets her heart-to-heart, because Rapunzel doesn't really listen, so a 15-year-old former villain/current hostage had to do it. 
> 
> I left it open-ended so you as the reader can decide what happened next. Did Cassandra change her mind, and get her redemption early? Or did she continue on her dark path?
> 
> Feel free to let me know what you thought! :)


End file.
